Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a radiation imaging system applied to medical diagnostic imaging apparatuses, non-destructive inspection apparatuses, and analyzers using radiation.
Description of the Related Art
In recent years, for example, in the field of medicine, there has been a demand for photographing an observed area with a long length (hereinafter referred to as long-length photographing). For example, photographing of the entire spinal cord or lower limb or of the entire body, for identifying distortion of, or abnormalities in, the subject's body. A radiation imaging system capable of long-length photographing in a single irradiation is more desirable than a system that performs long-length photographing in multiple irradiations of an observed area which is divided into multiple sections. This is because, with the former system, the subject's body movement can be avoided and the subject's exposure to radiation can be reduced.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2012-040140 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-244270 each disclose a radiation imaging system that can perform long-length photographing in a single irradiation by using a plurality of radiation imaging devices, which are arranged such that parts of the respective radiation imaging devices spatially overlap as viewed from an irradiation side. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-244270 discloses a supporting member for arranging the radiation imaging devices such that parts of the respective radiation imaging devices spatially overlap as viewed from the irradiation side.
However, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2012-040140, there is no mention of a retainer that retains the position of each of the radiation imaging devices. Also, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-244270 does not describe a specific configuration of a retainer that retains the position of each of the radiation imaging devices. Depending on the configuration of the retainer that retains the position of each of the radiation imaging devices, artifacts may occur in an image obtained from the radiation imaging system.